Martin Brundle thinks Max Verstappen comes with ‘challenges’ compared to ‘marketable’ Lando Norris

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Martin Brundle believes every driver on the 2026 F1 grid knows that Max Verstappen is the most talented out of them all, but the Red Bull star comes with other “challenges”.

Brundle is a huge fan of Verstappen, who he believes could walk up to any F1 team and they would want to strike a deal. But the package around the four-time champion can take some of the shine away from him, unlike his rival drivers like the more “marketable” Lando Norris.

Norris beat Verstappen to win the F1 drivers’ championship for the first time last term, with only two points separating the McLaren man and Red Bull racer after 24 Grands Prix and six F1 Sprint events. Verstappen trailed Norris by 70 points through 15 of last term’s 24 rounds.

Martin Brundle doubts Max Verstappen will still be in F1 in 10 years’ time. When do you think he will leave?

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Martin Brundle thinks every F1 driver knows Max Verstappen has the ‘greatest talent’

Verstappen now enters a season as the challenger instead of the champion for the first time since 2021, when the Dutchman lifted the first of his four titles. But Brundle has zero doubts that Norris and the rest of the grid know they need to raise their game to Verstappen’s level.

READ MORE: All you need to know about the 2026 F1 season, from calendar to drivers

Brundle told Sky Sports News (26/02, 12:06): “We’ll see how it goes. But I think his calling card would open any door in any Formula 1 team. We all agree that Max has got the greatest talent on the grid, and so would Lando, and Oscar [Piastri] and George [Russell].

“They know what they’ve got to raise the game to to beat, and they can do that. But Max comes with some other challenges, let’s say. Lando, incredibly marketable.

“Any door he knocks on or his management knocks on will be already ajar, and then somebody with the other side of it going, ‘What can we do together?’”

Max Verstappen is not interested in joining Aston Martin in 2027

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Brundle will not be surprised if Verstappen’s future is up for debate in 2026, despite holding a contract with Red Bull through the 2028 F1 season. The 28-year-old can get out of his deal at the end of this year if he ranks outside the top two in the standings at the summer break.

Verstappen had to rank outside the top three in the standings last summer to have the right to leave Red Bull, but he hit the summer shutdown in third. It meant that while Toto Wolff confirmed Mercedes spoke to Verstappen’s manager last year, he had to remain at Red Bull.

The Dutchman would be expected to attract vast interest if he were to become available for a move next year. Although it is now reported that Verstappen has no interest in a move to Aston Martin in 2027 after seeing how much they struggled throughout pre-season testing.

Verstappen has long been linked with a move to Aston Martin, as their ambitious billionaire owner Lawrence Stroll is believed to dream about the Red Bull star being in one of his cars. But the first Aston Martin of the 2026 F1 regulations era was the worst car of all in testing.